


Tess Mercer and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

by Forlorn Kumquat (sara_wolfe)



Category: Smallville
Genre: F/F, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Multi, Threesome - F/F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 18:15:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5100755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sara_wolfe/pseuds/Forlorn%20Kumquat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tess is not having a good day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Tess Mercer and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

**Author's Note:**

> Written for **thattallnerdybean** on Tumblr.

_Coffeecoffeecoffeecoffee_

Tess grabbed the cup that Clark held out to her, took a healthy swallow of coffee, and then shrieked in surprise when the cup slipped in her still-lax grip, splashing the dark liquid down the front of her pristine white blouse. Clark snatched the cup away before she could spill any more on herself and Tess used a damp cloth to blot at her blouse, but the damage was already done, the front of her shirt completely stained. Groaning in dismay, Tess threw the towel down on the counter.

“This wasn’t exactly how I wanted to start my day,” she grumbled.

Clark pressed a comforting kiss to the top of her head. “Look at it this way,” he told her. “Anything that happens after this will be great in comparison.”  
———-  
Great.

Yeah, that wasn’t how Tess would describe the feeling of having her car swerve underneath her when one of the tires blew out. She gripped the steering wheel in a painful grip as she guided the car to a bumpy stop on the side of the road. Once she turned the car off, she dropped her head to rest on the steering wheel for a moment, and then pulled her cell phone out of her purse.

“I’m stuck on the side of the road with a flat tire and I’m going to be late getting to the office,” she said, as soon as Lois picked up.

“Do you want me to come get you?” Lois asked. 

“I don’t want to leave my car on the side of the road,” Tess told her. “No, I’ll wait for the tow truck and then catch a cab once I drop my car off at the garage.”

“If you’re sure,” Lois said, and Tess hummed in assent. “Well, Clark and I will be gone by the time you get here; we’ve got that interview with Senator Craig, and then we’re doing a follow-up that story from last month about the new domestic violence shelter you started - I’m gonna want some quotes from you on that, by the way - and then-”

“And then maybe my workaholic girlfriend and boyfriend can meet me for lunch?” Tess teased her.

“Pot, kettle, black,” Lois retorted. “And, yes, then we’ll do lunch. Love you, babe.”

“Love you, too,” Tess replied, and then after she hung up, she dialed the tow truck company.

“Two hours,” the dispatcher told her, after Tess described what had happened to her car.

“I have to get to work,” Tess protested.

“Two hours,” the dispatcher repeated, implacably. “Sorry, ma’am, it’s the best we can do.”

Tess ended the call with a muttered curse, resisting the urge to throw her phone out the window in frustration.  
———-  
Two and a half hours later, Tess finally made it to the Daily Planet. She stepped out of the cab and was halfway up onto the sidewalk before she realized her purse wasn’t on her shoulder - it was on the back seat of the cab already halfway down the block.

“Stop!” Tess yelled, sprinting after the cab, but she lost it when the driver went around a corner.

Trudging back to the Daily Planet - with a heel that broke three steps after she’d turned around - Tess called the cab company as soon as she got to her office. She described her purse to the dispatcher, sighing in relief when the dispatcher not only confirmed that the driver had reported her missing purse, but that he was close enough that he was willing to drive back and drop it off in the lobby. Finally something was going to go right, today.

Everything was quiet for the next couple of hours. Tess got caught up on all the work she’d missed when she’d been waiting for the tow truck, she called Lois and gave her a couple soundbites for the shelter article, and she got everything prepared for the Luthorcorp shareholders’ meeting next week. And just in time for lunch with Lois and Clark.

“Bad news about lunch,” Lois said, when Tess called her to find out what restaurant they wanted to go to. “Senator Craig wants to meet me again to talk about his interview, and Clark, well-”

“Ms Mercer!” Tess’s office door slammed open as an intern rushed inside. “There’s an earthquake in Peru; Cam Wooten’s on the phone for you from the international office!”

“I think I know what Clark’s got going on,” Tess told Lois, as the intern dashed back to the bullpen. “Look, tell him to be careful, okay?”

“I already did,” Lois reassured her.

“All right, well, I’ve got to talk to Wooten,” Tess added. “Don’t worry about lunch; I’ll see you guys at home, tonight.”

Her conversation with Wooten took about half an hour, and then Tess found herself facing an empty hour, and no one to eat lunch with. She didn’t feel like going to a restaurant by herself, and a working lunch in her office didn’t sound that appealing either. But there was a new salon that had just opened up down the street, she’d been meaning to get a new haircut for a while, and after the morning she’d had she deserved a little bit of pampering.

And what was the worst that could happen with a haircut?  
———-  
“Oops!”

Tess closed her eyes and slumped in her seat, pulling her head away from the hairdresser’s hands. “Oops?” she echoed, faintly. “What do you mean, ‘Oops’?”

“It’s not too bad,” the hairdresser rushed to assure her. “I can fix it. Maybe.”

“Fix what?” Tess demanded.

When the hairdresser waffled, Tess huffed in exasperation and leaned forward to snatch a hand mirror off the counter in front of her. Spinning the chair around, Tess held the hand mirror up and angled it to see the larger mirror behind her.

And almost burst into tears at what she saw. There was a large chunk about two inches long where her hair had been cut to about two inches long. It was right in the middle of the back of her head, where it would be almost impossible to hide.

“This isn’t too bad,” the hairdresser babbled, anxiously, plucking at the rest of Tess’s hair. “I can just shorten this bit, here, add some waves for camouflage-”

“Whatever it takes,” Tess groaned, as she leaned back in the seat. “Just fix it, fast.”  
———-  
Finally the work day was over.

Tess’s productivity had gone down the toilet after lunch, and she hadn’t been able to get a single thing done. Half the computers in the bullpen had succumbed to a freak power surge. Two reporters had gone home after a sudden case of food poisoning. And she’d only been able to get scattered information from Wooten about what was happening in Peru, and she hadn’t been able to get a hold of Lois to see if she’d heard anything from Clark.

Honestly, at this point, she just wanted to go home, curl up on the couch with a glass of wine, and cuddle with Lois and Clark for the rest of the night.

She packed up her briefcase, grabbed her jacket and purse, and headed down the elevator to the lobby. The sidewalk outside the building was unusually crowded for this late at night, and Tess spent several futile minutes trying to hail a taxi before giving it up as a lost cause. It really wasn’t that far to the apartment, it was a nice night, and a walk sounded good.

Up until the skies opened up fifteen minutes later.

Tess considered making a run for it, but there was no point, she was soaked within seconds. So she sighed, hitched her purse up higher on her shoulder, and trudged down the sidewalk.

She got home about ten minutes later, dropping her purse, briefcase, and coat right inside the front door. She toed her shoes off, the pumps coming off her feet with a squelching pop, and then she went into the living room where Lois and Clark were waiting for her.

“Hey,” she said, flapping her hand at them in a half-hearted wave. “I’m home.”

Clark and Lois blinked at her in shock, Clark being the first to find his voice. “Tess, honey-”

“I couldn’t get a cab,” Tess told them, trying to explain why she was dripping on the carpet. “And it started raining-”

“Why didn’t you call me to come get you?” Lois asked, coming over to her.

“I didn’t want to get you wet, too,” Tess said, and then she let out a watery laugh when Lois wrapped her arms tightly around her. “Like that.”

“Let’s get you dried off,” Lois told her, grabbing her hand and tugging her toward the bathroom.

“I’ll get dinner ready,” Clark said from behind them, and then they disappeared into the bathroom.

“Sit,” Lois ordered, giving Tess a gentle push toward the edge of the tub. “Babe, your hair-”

“I’m never getting a haircut again,” Tess groaned, but she leaned into the touch when Lois ran her fingers through her short hair.

“I can fix this,” Lois assured her, nails scratching lightly over Tess’s scalp. “It’s not even that bad, just a little ragged.”

“I feel like a drowned rat,” Tess told her, shoulders slumping as she relaxed against Lois, letting her girlfriend hold her up.

“Kinda look like it,” Lois teased her. “Come on, out of these wet clothes,” she added, unbuttoning Tess’s blouse when her cold fingers refused to cooperate.

Between the two of them, they got Tess out of her sodden clothing, leaving it in a pile in the corner of the bathroom. Clark poked his head in at one point, setting some clothes and towels on the edge of the counter, and Tess almost moaned when Lois wrapped a heated towel around her shoulders. She closed her eyes as the heat leeched into her chilled skin.

Lois was running a fine-toothed comb through her hair, fingers gently tugging as she untangled knots and snipped at stray pieces with a small pair of scissors. Tess let herself drift to the soft, mesmerizing sounds, only stirring when Lois tousled her hair in another warm towel, drying the short strands.

“Clothes,” Lois prompted her, helping her get dressed in a soft pair of sweats. “Okay, how do you feel?”

“Human again,” Tess told her, and Lois chuckled as she wrapped an arm around Tess’s waist, steering her back into the living room.

Clark was waiting for them with some delicious-smelling boxes of takeout. Tess curled up on the couch between them, leaning into Clark’s side and tucking her feet under Lois’s thighs to warm them up. 

Tess accepted the small box that Clark handed her, but she only managed a few bites before she was yawning too hard to continue. The box wobbled in her loose grip, but Clark rescued her dinner before she could drop it all over the floor.

“Why don’t you close your eyes for a bit?” he suggested.

He shifted until he could wrap both arms around her, and Tess needed no further prompting. She relaxed into Clark’s embrace as Lois draped a crocheted blanket across her chest, closing her eyes and drifting off to the soft sound of their voices. She was warm, she was safe, she was home.


End file.
